>> castorflorida. >> hakeem jeffries. >> jeffries. castro of texas. castro of texas. >> jeffries. >> jeffries. chavez -- >> kevin mccarthy. >> mccarthy. mccormack. >> hakeem jeffries. >> scombref frist. chu. >> hakeem jeffries. >> jeffries. c cicilline. >> jeffries. >> cirstea co-bonnie. >> mccarthy. >> mccarthy. clark of masto. >> hakeem jeffries. >> jeffries. clarke of new york. >> the bad brilliant brother from brooklyn, hakeem jeffries.

>> sfref gist. cleaver. >> jeffries. cline. >> kevin mccarthy. >> mccarthy. >> cloud. >> jim jordan. >> jordan. clyburn. >> hakeem jeffries. >> jeffries. >> clyde. >> andy biggs. >> biggs. cohen. >> i have eight times passed my vote for the greatest speaker of

a generation, nancy pelosi. i proudly cast my vote for the next great speaker of the house of representatives, hakeem jeffries. >> jeffries. cole. >> kevin mccarthy. >> mccarthy. >> collins. >> mccarthy. >> mccarthy. komer. comer. >> mccarthy. >> mccarthy. >> connelly. >> hakeem jeffries of new york. >> jeffries. costa? >> the gentleman from new york, hakeem jeffries. >> jeffries. >> courtney. >> hakeem jeffries. >> jeffries. >> craig. >> hakeem jeffries. >> jeffries. >> crane. >> biggs. >> biggs.

crawford? >> mccarthy. >> mccarthy. >> crenshaw. >> senator mccarthy. >> mccarthy. >> crockett. >> my first and very unified for hakeem jeffries. >> jeffries. crow. >> hakeem jeffries. >> jeffries. cuellar. >> jeffries. >> jeffries. curtis. >> kevin mccarthy. >> mccarthy. davids of kansas. >> hakeem jeffries. >> jeffries. davidson. >> kevin mccarthy. >> mccarthy.

>> davis of illinois. >> with enthusiasm for hakeem jeffries. >> jeffries. >> davis of north carolina. >> jeffries. >> jeffries. >> dean of pennsylvania. >> hakeem jeffries. >> jeffries. >> degette. >> jeffriess. >> jeffries. dela cruz. >> from the great state of texas, kevin mccarthy. >> mccarthy. >> delauro. >> hakeem jeffries. >> jeffries. dell benny. >> hakeem jeffries. >> jeffries. delose joe. >> hakeem jeffries. >> jeffries. >> delsaulniers. >> jeffries.

>> desjarlais. >> kevin mccarthy. >> diaz. >> mccarthy. >> mccarthy. t. >> mccarthy. >> mccarthy. >> dingell. >> hakeem jeffries. >> jeffries. doggett. >> hakeem jeffries. >> jeffries. donalds. >> mccarthy. >> mccarthy. duarte. >> kevin mccarthy. >> mccarthy. duncan. >> kevin mccarthy. >> mccarthy. >> dunn of florida. >> kevin mccarthy. >> mccarthy. edwards. >> mccarthy. >> mccarthy. ellzey?

>> mccarthy. >> mccarthy. emmer. >> mccarthy. >> mccarthy. escobar. >> hakeem jeffries. >> jeffries. eshoo. >> jeffries. >> jeffries. espaillat. >> don't know, now we know. [ laughter ] jeffries. >> jeffries. estes. >> kevin mccarthy. >> mccarthy. evans. >> jeffries. >> jeffries. >> ezell. >> kevin mccarthy. >> mccarthy. fallon. >> fourth district of texas votes for kevin mccarthy. >> mccarthy. feenstra.

>> mccarthy. >> mccarthy. >> ferguson. >> mccarthy. >> mccarthy. f finstad. >> mccarthy. >> fischbach. >> mccarthy. >> mccarthy. >> fitzgerald. >> mccarthy. >> mccarthy. fitzpatrick. >> mccarthy. >> mccarthy. fleischmann. >> mccarthy. >> mccarthy. >> fletcher. >> hakeem jeffries. >> jeff freeze. flood. >> mccarthy. >> mccarthy. >> foster. >> jeffries. >> he said jeffries. >> jeffries.

foxx. >> jeffries. kevin mccarthy. >> mccarthy. >> frankel. >> jeffries. >> c. scott franklin. >> kevin mccarthy. >> mccarthy. frost. >> hakeem jeffries. >> jeffries. fry. >> mccarthy. >> mccarthy. >> fulcher. >> mccarthy. >> mccarthy. >> gaetz. >> andy biggs. >> biggs. gallagher. >> mccarthy. >> mccarthy. gallego. >> my vote, hakeem jeffries. >> jeffries.

>> garamendi. all right, just to make a note here where we are on the vote count, at the beginning of this, we noted that kevin mccarthy could only afford to lose four republican votes in order to fall short of the 218 votes he will need this this vote. he has already fallen way short of that and lost eight votes already. and we still have a number of opponents to get to. so as of right now, unless votes change before the final gavel comes down, kevin mccarthy will not win the speakership on the first vote. that is historic, dana bash, that has not happened since literally in 100 years since 1923. >> and so many times those of us who are covering congress have a sense that, okay, if something doesn't happen, in plan a, then it'll go to plan b or c that we

know the script for. there's no descriptions now. we, not just reporters, they, those on the floor, kevin mccarthy, nobody knows what is going to happen now. and this isn't just drama that is about personality or even about leadership. this is drama that is about the house of representatives, it actually constitutionally cannot function, the members cannot be sworn in until there is a speaker of the house. this is the first and most important thing they have to do and there is no sense of how this is going to play out. >> we just heard just -- sorry to interrupt -- we just heard congressman goodell vote for andy biggs so kevin mccarthy has now lost nine house republicans and, john, he can only afford to lose four. >> the question how far are these mccarthy opponents willing to take the chaos? that's ten, right? ten, ten republicans voted for somebody other than kevin mccarthy by name. if another one does then all the

democrats vote for jeff freeze, he could be speaker. he won't be speakerer for the next two hours, may not be for two hours but are these republicans willing to say we're willing to let hakeem jeffries win the first vote to do so or will the republicans stop now and try adjourn the vote? that's a challenge. do you try to cut that plan b which they don't have. >> jamie, what are you hearing. >> that would be beyond the chaos caucus if that happens. look, we know the freedom caucus can't elect a speaker, they don't have enough votes, but they can certainly block one. i just spoke to -- was texting with republican member of congress, a source who has been trying to negotiate between the two sides and the source said the meeting did not go well. we saw some with the drama where people were coming out but the source said it's even worse than you're hearing, quote, there is

a hard bloc, this morning's gop conference solidified that bloc so now the question is, can kevin mccarthy wear them down or the opposite? >> well, i think the challenge here is that they are at risk of letting it -- john's point -- spin out of their control, right? so this bloc of hard-liners has been fighting so far behind the scenes with their own people, but the democrats have stood united here, we expect them to continue to stand united and as john pointed out there isn't really an easy way out of this. if republicans remain divided, because mccarthy and the republican leadership actually need all of these people who went to that meeting, came out extremely angry, they need them to stop this process. they need them to prevent hakeem jeffries from becoming speaker of the house and as john points out seven plus four is 11. at this rate, hakeem jeffries gets a majority of those present

and voting, so the challenges here are really unprecedented as we've outlined. >> just to interrupt. in that time not only did congressman gosar vote for andy biggs, bringing up his margin to seven votes, but congressman handy harris voted i think for lee shielden who is no longer a member of the house of representative. >> which is a point you don't have to be a member to get a vote in this process. someone has to blink here and i think at this moment no one knows who it's really going to be. one of the things that usually happens is that this gets worked out before they even get to the floor and when you are someone who realizes you don't have the votes as kevin mccarthy once did, back in 2015 you get yourself out of the process so that other people can figure out where the votes are, and because that hasn't happened, that's going to have to happen today in realtime. either mccarthy will twist some arms or someone else is going to

whip those votes. the other thing about this morning's meeting as jamie was talking about mccarthy tried for weeks to give out some carrots and i think what you saw over the last 24 hours was a shift in strategy on the mccarthy side of things. they've gone from playing fleiss to playing hardball and i think you'll see that accelerating today, probably we could probably see it happening on the floor as the mccarthy wing really starts to put the pressure on these folks ratcheting up the rhetoric, getting angry really about it and i can't say that that will work but it's a shift in strategy. >> let's go to manu raju on the hill. we have heart threats. . one of the congressmen behind mccarthy's speakership congressman mike rogers noted individuals who are not supporting him might not end up with the chairmanships or even

on the committees they want. that threat has already been made, manu raju, we're already at the point now where kevin mccarthy has lost 11 house republican votes. he only could afford to get four and there are at least seven other potential opponents who have yet to vote. >> yeah, we are in unchartered wears here. there is no playbook for how this plays out. there is no script. the republicans are simply at a loss about how to move forward here, there are very few options as well. one option is to vote to adjourn the chamber, to actually have a meeting behind the scenes but in order to adjourn you need 218 votes to do that and at the moment that would require democrats to agree with republicans to get to 218 votes. democrats have indicated to me they have not made a decision about whether or not to move forward to allow that to happen or they could try to change the rules on how they actually elect a speaker. also would require a majority of the chamber. they don't have that. or they can simply grind it out ballot after ballot. that is the preferred course of

kevin mccarthy at the moment saying we plan to vote endlessly essentially until he told me until he gets no more than four republicans to defect. but that is going to be a very tall task. 11 members and counting right now. it's hard to see how they change their mind after mccarthy already had made a number of concessions to give them more power essentially what they want, some have indicated to me like bob good, he won't vote for him even if he got everything he wanted. unclear what his path is. the hope is to let the votes play out, let it happen, hopefully cooler heads will prevail but that has simply not happened after weeks of negotiates, after that incredibly tense meeting behind the scenes after voices were raised, curses were hurled and now have to decide what to do. something we have not seen in a century, the speaker's race about to go to multiple ballots. >> there isn't an obvious

successor and happened when mccarthy was going to be the house republican leader and gave bad interviews and lost all support but this was before the vote there was a scrambling to get paul ryan who was the chairman of the budget committee to become speaker. this is not the situation here. he brought it to the floor of the house. >> yeah, he dropped out then and said he won't do that now. two thing that is stood out, the cs. eli crane and michael cloud who voted no. eli crane had ads from the fund, like a million dollars, that's kevin mccarthy decision there and he to go out and vote no is notable though there had been rumblings he was going to. cloud, he had not been on someone's radar voting no but what it suggests to me and i was on the hill this morning talking to mike lawler and brian fitzpatrick two mccarthy voters said they believe that the faction of the hard-liners are saving some no votes so if they do multiple ballots today the no votes against kevin mccarthy will only continue to grow.

so it will seem like opposition is growing, they tactically behind the scenes are trying to do that. >> i want to state one thing. the reason we are here, the reason kevin mccarthy is here is because it is so small. and if you go back in time he was predicting a big wave and then as the election got closer, he predicted a smaller wave. it was barely a trickle. and there are a lot of members in that chamber who are voting right now who are voting to support kevin mccarthy. these are republicans. but are telling me and i'm sure a lot of you guys here that a big problem that republicans have is one that they have had for the last 12, 15 years since the tea party started and it's that these extremes, small band of extremes have successfully taken over the leadership and that perhaps what we saw this morning with mccarthy actually

yelling back at them for the first time in a public way that they're hoping that the fever breaks. it's unclear if that will happen but that is a dynamic that could play out as we're seeing -- >> let me bring in former congressman rodney davis of illinois because congressman, it seems your friend, kevin mccarthy is headed to defeat on this first ballot. obviously people could change votes before the gavel comes down but right now he is 11 votes back from where he needs to be or rather seven votes back from where he needs to be. he can only afford to lose four, he lost 11 right now. and what do you make of the argument that mccarthy set this stage for this to happen himself by being tolerant of this ultra right wing maga group that is by the way in some analyses the reason why there wasn't a red wave because there were too many far right candidates as opposed

to more traditional conservative republicans like yourself. >> well, i tell you what, candidate quality matters and in the end, we didn't have the right candidates in the right districts to win the general elections to increase our margins. but this isn't a kevin mccarthy issue. this has been happening for years. it happened under speaker boehner and under speaker ryan. when we were in the minority we were more unified than ever because we were fighting against the democrats. we forgot we were fighting against their majority driven institution. these guys don't want to get to yes. they don't want to help mccarthy. however, if kevin mccarthy stays in this race and we go to ballot after ballot after ballot, there's going to be a lot of pressure on them because their voters sent them here to hold hunter biden and joe biden accountable. they won't have jamie comer as the head of the oversight committee. they won't have jim jordan until we get a speaker of the house.

>> you think voters sent the republican majority to the house of representatives to hold hunter biden accountable? >> in their districts, their very republican districts, absolutely. but we won the majority by winning districts that were won by democrats. that were bon by joe biden. look, i represented a swing district for ten years. i know what that general election fight is like. these guys have absolutely no idea. >> yeah, abby phillip, i mean, maybe it's true that there are a lot of voters out there who are in these 11 districts who think that the business of congress is to investigate hunter biden. but i don't know that's a winning formula for house republican. >> yeah, i don't think there's any evidence that especially these members who are part of the never kevin caucus or what have you really took away that message from the last election because they're in districts where that wasn't a factor.

they were running in districts that were ruby red, a combination of just partisanship and redistricting and so they don't have to deal with that, but i think part of the problem here is that even if it's not a kevin mccarthy that we're talking about, this could be anyone. it is very hard to ideologically meet these members where they are. what they want is -- >> let's listen in for a second. >> jeffries. macbeth. >> hakeem jeffries. >> jeffries. mccarthy. >> mccarthy. >> mccarthy. [ cheers and applause ]

mccall. >> i'm sorry to interrupt. we wanted to hear mccarthy vote. >> that's all right. the point is, it is not clear to me that there's any one person who can give these members what they want. they want to be effectively -- i'm talking about the five right now who have really led this charge, they want to be the people running the house and i don't know that there's any person that can give them that. and kevin mccarthy tried. he courted these folks for years and years but they've never really believed that he was one of them, and that is -- >> why? >> because he's not. he's not and we could go through the history of the, you know, the young guns and the previous iteration of kevin mccarthy but he's not and he never will be and for that reason they may never come around and i'm not sure who else is going to really give them what they claim they want. >> one thing he did that you're

seeing the result of in a way that he did not expect, after january 6th going down and meeting with donald trump and giving him the oxygen that could have been sort of snuffed out and he made that gamble, not because he thought donald trump was right in any way, even though he would never admit that in public now, he made that gamble because he wanted the people who are voting no to be on his side and the gamble didn't pay off. >> yes. >> what is trump about? he's about grievance politics. right now these members are airing their grievances, they want a scalp. they don't want a committee assignment. they want a trophy and on the first vote of a republican congress, a democrat is going to get the most votes. it won't be enough to be speaker but unless they stop the vote it will end with hakeem jeffries ahead of kevin mccarthy. it's not enough votes to be speaker but the first vote will have a democrat on top and then the republicans are going to have to deal with it.

>> just to note here, we are long past the four votes that kevin mccarthy could afford to lose. he has now lost 13 votes including congresswoman-elect anna paulina luna voted for jim jordan and i think there was another vote from congressman troy nails of texas, although i'm not quite sure but that's 13. let's go to melanie zanona on capitol hill to give us an update and, melanie, no indication from congressman kevin mccarthy, the republican leader who is on his way to defeat in this first ballot in his attempt to be speaker, no indication that he is going to step aside. >> no, and in fact, jake, it's quite the opposite. i talked to a source close to kevin mccarthy who said his mentality right now is, quote, we're going to war, never backing down and the source made the point that kevin mccarthy has already made concession

after concession to his right flank. he is done negotiating. now that it poises to appear to be headed to multiple ballots, it will be grinding his opponents down and going through as many ballots as it takes. we'll see how long that is sustainable but the feeling right now in mccarthy's camp is that this fight with the house freedom caucus has been a long time coming. if you remember this group denied him the speakership and forced him to get out before it went to a vote. this time that is not the case. they will fight this out. he is not going down without a fight, jake. >> yeah, and there are 13 votes against kevin mccarthy. we should know, kasie hunt, the reason he didn't get it way back when in 2015, was it? >> '15. >> was because -- not because he was inadequately allegiant to maga or too much of a swamp monster or anything being told about him, no, it was because he was mala detroit, he was clumsy and admitted the benghazi hearings were all about trying

to destroy hillary clinton. >> well, i mean, look, our politics have changed so much since then. now those are said out loud all the time and taken for granted. it's almost rather quaint he had to step down over that in 2015 but, look, it's important to pull out the lens, big picture. what did we learn from the midterm elections where they thought this was going to be a red tidal wave sweeping through the house of representatives, a real change election that rejected complete democratic control of washington. instead what we got was a message from voters that actually they want a little bit of stability. and they're looking for people who will maintain the status quo that that feeling of being sick of the up and down roller coaster that was the trump administration for four years, there's still some feeling out there among the american elector rat that we need to kind of get back to governing to actually

functioning. what's happen something putting on display the fact that republicans are not capable of governing. i thought this would happen repeatedly through two years of republican control whether it was -- i don't know how many hours we spent on government shutdowns in 2013 or whenever that was, there's the debt ceiling fight, et cetera, my sense was that this was going to be governing from crisis to crisis because of this group in the house. i never expected that it would be so bad that right out of the gate on the very first day of the congress that for the first time in 100 years it looks like they won't be able to choose a speaker. that sends a message to the american public that, you know, republicans are not in a place right now where they are capable of governing the country. they are simply not. we'll see if they prove they can figure it out but this is poor if you're gauging it based on, hey, can you pull the levers of government to make them function and work for the american people? >> so just to give an update i originally was trying to figure out who voted against him. i said it was congressman troy

nails. nails actually ended up voting for mccarthy, so i am -- i was mistaken about that but there have been two other votes against mccarthy. one congressman ralph norman, a republican of south carolina who voted for andy biggs, we knew that was coming. one, a surprise, congresswoman mary miller from illinois who voted for jim jordan and, in fact, rodney davis, former congressman rodney davis, this is who you lost to, congresswoman mary miller who voted -- you were redistricted and ran against each other and she beat you and now she's voting for jim jordan for speaker. what do you make of that? >> well, i don't think anyone is surprised at anyone in illinois would be surprised by that. we got to take a step back and wonder because it's candidates like her that were supported by former president trump. you know, is former president trump playing both sides of this race right now? i mean, i'd like to think that he will be loyal to kevin with

his endorsement but with some of these votes, i got to question that. >> yeah. manu raju, let's go to you now because now we have 16 votes, republican votes against kevin mccarthy, congressman andy biggs just got his ninth vote. that's 16. he can only afford to lose four. manu, what's going to happen? >> it's going in the wrong direction. this was not what they expected several days ago. remember, yesterday it looked like there were about 14 votes, five hard no votes, nine republicans who were skeptical who suggested perhaps they could ultimately vote for him if maybe some changes were made but they've had meetings that did not go well. one last night in which they presented a number of changes that they wanted. key committee assignments that kevin mccarthy said they could not agree to at this point because that is not the way the process works. that did not go over well for those members. then you saw the tense meeting with mccarthy where he tried to shame those members into getting behind him. also did not work.

then the threats that you could uss committee assignments, that also did not work and now there are 16 members and counting, meaning kevin mccarthy needs to somehow figure out at least a dozen members, how to convince them to go back to his camp and there is no certainty about how that will happen. biggs bogey as he left the meeting this morning i asked are you going to drop out after that first ballot because it was pretty clear he and mccarthy were not going to get 218 votes. biggs laughed and plans to stray in it. we'll see how long he does but unless there's some reason that biggs and others decide they simply -- it's time for them to hang it up they plan to press ahead here which is why that this long vote, we could see a number of these long votes with no certainty to who gets 218 votes and the house essentially paralyzed until they figure out the solution lear. >> all

>> anderson cooper, the only thing that seems certain is the uncertainty about what's going to happen. kevin mccarthy if this gavel comes down as it is currently going without people switching their votes and went to another vote against kevin mccarthy, 18 now. he will not win the speakership on this, anderson. >> very clear what the next step will be. you keeping your own score here? what do you make of the votes so far? >> kevin mccarthy lost it in the cs. he lost five already so, look, they can keep having these votes, but once you vote this way, it's very hard to change your vote. so i don't see how he gets there. maybe somehow they're going to

magically recess this proceeding. >> in between, i mean, is there more deal making to be had? >> either deal making or a beatdown session. i mean i don't know -- what can he give these folks that he hasn't already tried to give them? i don't think there's anything he can give them. it will never be enough. seems so personal. they don't -- they don't want him so i don't think there's anything he can do. no concession he can make. no more appeasement that he can do to win some of these folks over. maybe he gets a few of these folks back on the next ballot. my my count he's up to 15 and he needs -- 18. 18. [ laughter ] >> we're almost -- >> but, again, why the house is at a stalemate is for two reason, the right flank don't have a consensus candidate to put up. they just want to stonewall and block kevin mccarthy but kevin mccarthy won't pull his name out. it's not out of the realm of possibility that receive scalise could get enough votes so this whole exercise is one regardless

of what you think of kevin mccarthy, where it kind of, you know, defies leadership in the sense that this is a win for democrats. the first day of a republican congress, hakeem jeffries is going to get the plurality of votes on the house floor. >> let me ask this, at what point do mccarthy's friends go to him and say, dude, they're just not into you, okay, it's time to go, we can't do this anyone and again, we got to move on? the fourth ballot maybe? you're right. at some point somebody will have to say, hey, these guys aren't going to change. look, these folks are pretty stubborn. at least the ones i served with. they can be very stubborn. you know that too. >> worked with them. >> you know what i'm talking about. they are immovable objects. and so, again, it's not about -- they don't want a committee assignment. >> congressman -- >> even with a five-vote threshold to replace the speaker, i mean -- >> explain that's a big give

kevin mccarthy did to -- >> it's huge. it means that any group of five people can move on the floor of the house to replace the speaker and so long as that group of five is able to get a 345 majority of the people present in the room that day, they can replace a speaker mccarthy or -- >> that seems to be a recipe for chaos down the road even if mccarthy -- >> it's already -- >> that's what drove john boehner out of the house. >> significant leverage they've given away to these far right individuals and yet they're still not coming over to vote for him which suggests that the next speaker of the house will be steve kalisz. >> i mean, their goal seems to be wanting to humiliate kevin mccarthy and run him out of town. >> mission accomplished. >> mission accomplished. >> it seems like mccarthy's willingness to be humiliated knows no bounds. >> going hat in hand to donald trump, going hat in hand to some of these folks with some of the deals he's already cut. they wanted more. they wanted, for instance, a pledge not to play in primaries.

he apparently didn't want to give them that. but so far i mean they are winning this round, we'll see how many rounds he's willing to go. he says he's willing to go round after round after round. at some point moderates will say to him, this is not about you, it's about the party. >> about the institution. >> it is a disaster of kevin mccarthy's own making. he spent the last five years empowering the right most flank of the house, you know, cozying up although marjorie taylor greene -- >> after he lost. >> with lauren boebert and matt gaetz and staying as close as possible to the former president and what he should have known from -- charlie and i were there in 2015 when the same flank denied him the speakerership and he wanted it he should have known they'll never come around to him and i'm just not sure what else you could give up. the threshold to vacate at five signals the first time there's a bill that requires bipartisan votes. he is going to, you know, get a vote -- >> after the attempted insurrection, there was that moment where mccarthy spoke

against the former president, mcconnell, lindsey graham, for goodness sakes was saying he would have enough. that seemed to have been the moment when a difference could have been made, i mean if he had chosen to stick with that opposition to try to rid the republican party of the former president, would he be in this position today? >> he would be in a better position. mitch mcconnell has stiff-armed trump. mccarthy chose the other route which was to embrace trump. you know, look, mccarthy probably would still have had problems had he stiff-armed trump with some of his members but i'd rather be on the right side of history than the wrong side in this case so i think he made the wrong choice with that. >> it's a morality tale about ambition. i mean, he has yearned for this for years and years and years. he was denied this by the freedom caucus back in 2015 and his answer was to be as solicitous as possible and gotten every concession you could think, basically handing

them a legislative gun saying you can take me out any time you want, just let me be the speaker. they say, you know what, not enough. >> i want to check in with lauren fox on capitol hill. lauren, how is this going in terms of the speaker's -- or kevin mccarthy's supporters, is this going worse than they anticipated. >> reporter: yeah, this is going a lot worse than they anticipated, anderson, i was on the phone all last week into the weekend early yesterday into the evening last night, everyone sort of thought that mccarthy would lose a handful of votes, that they would probably have to do this a couple of times, but we are at nearly 20 votes now that he is not getting. that is even more than what bob good, a republican from virginia who opposed mccarthy predicted in recent days. that just tells you how much ground mccarthy would have to make up and also tells you how much trouble is coming down the pipe in the future for the republican conference. even if they can get past the speaker's vote how are they going to legislate on common

sense legislation when it comes to having to have republican unity? it's a real problem, anderson and, yes, this is certainly a lot worse than a lot of allies were predicting. >> yeah, lauren, we'll check back in with you, congressman dent, just logistically once they get through the alphabet do they take a break? is there time for kibitzing. >> we haven't done this for 100 year. >> time for crying in the cloakroom. >> the chief clerk is the presiding officer. if it were a republican speaker they'd say we'll recess to the call of the chair and would have a beatdown session to break some arms. they can't do that. they would have to have a vote to recess and the democrats aren't going to recess so i suspect they'll have to continue voting unless the chief clerk decides that she wants to call a recess. i don't see how they stop. >> it was reported that mccarthy wanted to keep them on the floor out of fear that if they got off the floor, that other arrangements might be made.

>> uh-huh. >> so it's not at all clear. what's very clear is nobody really knows what to do right now. >> donald trump could make a difference here? he has come out for kevin mccarthy but not in such a flint-throated way. >> some of these people -- >> let's listen back in. >> mccarthy. van orderen. >> mccarthy. >> mccarthy. vargas. >> hakeem jeffries. >> jeffries. vasquez. >> new mexico for hakeem jeffries. >> jeffries. >> jeffries of new york. >> jeffries. >> velazquez. >> hakeem jeffries. >> jeffries. >> wagner. >> kevin mccarthy. >> mccarthy. wahlberg? >> kevin mccarthy.

>> mccarthy. waltz. >> mccarthy. >> mccarthy. wasserman schultz. >> hakeem jeffries. >> fref gist. waters? >> hakeem jeffries. >> jeffries. watson-coleman? >> with my heart on the preservation and the protection of integrity i cast my vote for hakeem jeffries. >> jeffries. weber of texas. >> mccarthy. >> mccarthy. webster of florida. >> mccarthy. >> mccarthy. wenstrup? >> mccarthy. >> mccarthy. westerman. >> mccarthy. >> mccarthy. wexton. >> hakeem jeffries. >> jeffries.

>> wild. >> with all my might and from the first, i vote for hakeem jeffries. >> jeffries. williams of georgia. >> i vote for hakeem jeffries. >> jeffries. >> williams of new york. >> kevin mccarthy. >> mccarthy. williams of texas. >> mccarthy. >> mccarthy. wilson of florida. >> hakeem jeffries. >> jeffries. wilson of south carolina. >> kevin mccarthy. >> mccarthy.

wittman. >> kevin mccarthy. >> mccarthy. womack. >> kevin mccarthy. >> mccarthy. yakym. >> mccarthy. >> mccarthy. >> see inke. >> kevin mccarthy. >> mccarthy. >> all right, all 434 current members of the u.s. house of representatives have voted and as of right now, the democratic leader, hakeem jeffries, has the most votes, 212, kevin mccarthy, the republican leader has 203. that's way short, 15 votes short of what he needed to get. we should note this vote tally and it could still change if anybody changes their vote before the gavel comes down, but this vote tally is actually worse than kevin mccarthy did two years ago when he lost the

speakership because he was head of the minority party to nancy pelosi. in that race, pelosi had 216 votes, mccarthy had 209. he actually has fewer votes for him to be speaker today even though he has a majority -- dana bash, this is an ignominious defeat. it doesn't mean it's over. who knows what will happen on the second ballot. but it is difficult to see how this process ends with a speaker mccarthy. >> it's so incongruous the images we're seeing of him laughing and the reality is that he just made history not in a good way as being the first in 100 years, the first man to lose the speakership in the first round and you see on the screen that hakeem jeffries has 212 as you noted. well now he's conferencing with jim jordan who is a very powerful force who was actually has been in the last few weeks

trying to rally the troops in favor of kevin mccarthy whereas historically he's kind of been a thorn in the side of past leaders, so they're obviously trying to figure out what the next move is, but the point is that there is no speaker of the house right now because you need 218 and not even hakeem jeffries got that. but it is such we were talking as we were watching, this is -- be careful what you wish for. >> yeah. >> because he placated this small group because he felt that that was what he needed to do to get him to the speakership and it did not work. in fact, it blew up in his face. >> just to bring people up to speed as to why we were interested in the fact that jim jordan, who is set to be the new chairman of the house judiciary committee, why that was an interesting moment, john king, is because if you look at the vote tally, 212 for the democratic leader congressman jeffries, 2034 for mccarthy. 10 for congressman andy biggs who no one thinks will ever be

the speaker of the house, but then of the nine for others and might be time for our graphics people to add a banner for congressman jordan because six republicans voted for him. he is certainly part of the maga wing, but a more palletable member to a lot of the republican caucus, six voted for him. one for lee zeldin. one for byron donalds, a current florida congressman and one for jim banks. let's go to rodney davis, if we can, right now to get his reaction to this because congressman, tell me how this ends with your friend kevin mccarthy being speaker, because i'm having a difficult time seeing it. >> well, we all are. this is historic, first time it's happened in 100 years as has been mentioned numerous times. this is new territory for him. from my sources on the floor right now, kevin is going to go immediately to another round of votes, you saw him talking to jim jordan, jim has been

adamantly supportive of kevin mccarthy. i think jim is going to be asked to go talk to those members who voted for him against his wishes and to talk them into maybe changing their vote for kevin. jim really wants to be the judiciary chair. he wants to get to work. but right now the only discussion for any other candidate for speaker of the house on the republican side besides kevin mccarthy is happening between the people who already voted against him, no one else is discussing another dark horse candidate right now. >> right, and he needs just to be clear to anybody watching right now, kevin mccarthy with 203 vote, john king, he needs to win 15 more house republican votes, that's not a small number when it comes down to it. 15, that means, you know, every man a king. i mean, everybody will have their own list of demands and frankly, as you've noted, john, their biggest demand, they don't want kevin mccarthy to be speaker. >> sometimes math is upside down.

you look at numbers, a black liberal democrat from the bronx, brooklyn, excuse me, just won the first vote of the republican congress. just came out on top. not enough to be speaker. not enough to be speaker but the democratic leader just came out on top in the first vote of the new republican congress. kevin mccarthy was just humiliated in public then you saw him open the cloakroom door trying to save his hide in private. what more can he give or give enough because as i said, sometimes math is upside down. you mentioned jordan as congressman davis notes, he has good relations with all 19 of those people who voted against kevin mccarthy. but what can jim jordan give them because jim jordan has been working them and jordan's friends have been working them for weeks and unable to get anything. they can go to that room and say we've embarrassed ourselves, a democrat came out on the first vote but many members don't care about that. that's not the world they live in. they don't live in a normal washington. they are not party members, they are -- they view themselves as maga warriors so, yes, you noted six votes for jim jordan. not enough.

the question, jake, is how long are these people, the 19 willing to hold out? if 12 of them went into that cloakroom and said we will vote present next time -- farce. >> that brings the margin. >> hakeem jeffries will not be speaker for the next two years, let's set that out, but in terms of where does it take us, it is possible that when kevin mccarthy says, cut a deal, if they don't like the deal or they just say, kevin mccarthy, the only deal we'll take is you stepping aside they can threatening, 19, 12, they only need 12 to throw it into further chaos. here we are in a black hole. >> when we have no idea what's going to happen, jamie gangel. >> jake, i was just hearing from a republican member of congress who again has been trying to negotiate behind the scenes, the member says to me, i just don't know how he gets there, they, meaning the freedom caucus, the opponents, quote, smell blood. he gave in to demand after demand. none of it was enough. i said, what happens next? the person said, who knows?

and then on a slightly lighter note a republican activist who is responsible for getting a lot of these members elected just texted me, welcome to day one of the gop majority. >> that's the thing, right? this is again they haven't even tried to start to do the hard stuff yet. and they -- >> raising the debt ceiling. >> raising the debt ceiling, governing the country, funding the government, et cetera, et cetera, and the other thing too, this is where i get hung up is again you can't beat somebody with nobody and there hasn't been so far, this is why we've been focusing on how steve kalisz has been posturing in public and how jim jordan has been posturing in public. neither one has been willing to say they'll take on kevin mccarthy. so it does seem like he's going to have to blink if, in fact, we're going to get out of this and i mean at this point who knows, could go for days. >> manu raju, what's the plan? >> just talked to a source familiar with the matter that is

involved in these discussions, they plan to keep voting. go on to the second ballot. kevin mccarthy is not bowing out. you did see him walk into the cloakroom. that's the only way to have discussions off the floor, otherwise they'll be voting on the floor so some of these talks still happening. jim jordan you mentioned earlier had told me he has no interest in becoming speaker of the house and wants to be the house judiciary chairman. he is a key ally of kevin mccarthy and at the moment he still has those same allies who are prepared to battle this time to grind it out and move forward on the second ballot, and the conservatives have said that they may have a dark horse candidate to push forward and they have not said or revealed who it is, and it is highly doubtful if they can get to 218 vote, and mccarthy said they will not give into that demand

of the bloc of conservatives, because that is the next card to play. and what is mccarthy's next card to play? to push ahead and wear these people opposing him down, but it is not happening at the moment here, and so expect another lengthy vote series, and we will see what happens after ballot two if he does not get to 218 votes, and we will see what happens now. >> and thank you, manu raju. so abbey, we will walk through this after one death in west virginia, and so who is going to change their vote? what happens that is going to make the result any different that you could have jim jordan to vote for him to vote for someone else? >> well, you will have some changes on the margins and some votes who votes are throwaways and people voting for byron

donalds and lee zeldin who is not a member and change their vote. >> that is three. >> and the no votes, but as manu said, several allies of kevin mccarthy who said they will not change their votes, and maybe it is not as many as the ones who are voting against him, but it is basically, the standoff between the two sides, because there is really only a four-vote margin here, and so, i think that as long as it continues, it is going to be problematic, and i think that it is part of the humiliation here for kevin mccarthy is who is leading this charge against him. you had paul gosar, someone who has spoken in months past in front of white supremist conferences voting for andy biggs, and someone who has spoken in front of fox news more

than in their area, and congresswoman boebert today to defy him, and so others to change their vote, and that is humiliation on top of humiliation, and it is not going to bode well for those who are trying to get to 218, and that is the people who have the sway, and it is only going to take four or five people to totally shut the house down right now, and that is the very problematic. >> the freedom caucus has been up to mischief for years and years and to challenge the establishment candidate whether it is paul boehner or paul ryan or whoever it is, but this is something new or different, because the freedom caucus was at one point a caucus organized around a set of principles

having to do with conservative governance, and lot of this group, and not all of them, but a lot of them are not around any coherent philosophy. they just like to burn things down as alfred the butler told batman once, "some people just like to burn things down." >> you are on a movie role today. and so they have left him weake and trump called mccarthy and toll him to take the deal, and he said no. so there is a plan that if this goes to multiple ballots as manu said it would, and so there were behind the scenes maneuvering that it would grow, and the opposition was growing, but following that meeting of the intense behind closed door meeting that kevin mccarthy said that he was basically owed the speakership they came out to make their no votes clear, and

he has to peel off not one or two people, but it is going to be a dozen or so republicans to change the vote. >> 15. >> it is going to seem like impossible at this point. >> but we have to underscore the fact that he can only lose four or five votes, and he is in this position right now with those five notes now, and 19 votes, because it is all connected, because you hear rodney davis talk about it, and charlie dent, and i am hearing from the sitting republican members of congress that the only reason that he is in this position to beg, borrow and steal is because the majority is so small, and the reason that the majority is so small, is because the republicans misunderstood the electorate, and they got so many candidates who were won in primaries and too extreme for the district. >> and those who are still there

are at war for themselves. this is the republican civil war playing out before yourselves. >> these are maga people, and this is within the maga wing of the party that is playing out. >> i am hearing from the republicans who are not in the maga wing or at least in the wing of let's get back to what they call the normal conservativism, and lower taxes and smaller government that this is a breaking point which is why mccarthy might have gotten into the big fight and started to yell at a lot of the guys in the closed door meeting this morning, but he had a lot of people cheering him on saying it is about time, and it is about time to have this fight, and let's do it. >> the interesting thing, and go ahead -- >> what is striking to me is that he is not taking them on. if you are listening to elise s

stefanic's nomination's speech, she said to grow the majority, but they are lying to themselves, because it did not happen in november, and this idea of the feeding and nurturing the maga wing of producing and expanding the wing is not happening. >> that is my point, and what the people cheering him on are saying that not backing down, and not pulling out of the race even though he does not have the votes is more than he has done before, and i am not saying it is a moment of valor. >> the big question, anderson, is why does kevin mccarthy want to be the speaker? what is he offering or selling to the republican caucus or the republican conference about his leadership that cannot be replicated? i agree with abby, in terms of him standing up to the maga

wing, he has been giving them everything that they want, and if you go to kevin mccarthy's twitter page, and the pinned tweet that he wants everybody to see -- hold on. let's see this. the pinned tweet is about hunter biden and he is all in on this maga business and now jim jordan is going to say something, and he has six votes, and maybe he can ask for those six individuals to vote for kevin mccarthy. that is still only going to get mccarthy up to 209 which is going to tie his losing score when nancy pelosi became speaker, and at any point, let me throw it to anderson. and we are learning how he is going to just days before the 2020 election, that is the underpinning of the election, anderson. >> trying to reach out to as many of the far right wing of

the republican party as possible. >> there is jim jordan ready to say something, and what is the next step? >> well, the next step appears to have another roll call vote. i am not sure how quickly it is going to happen, but another roll call vote, and i am curious if he is going to lose more votes or if jim jordan can get his people to vote for him, and i doubt it. i think that we will do this until kevin mccarthy says enough. >> manu raja is there at capitol hill, and what is going to happen here? >> yes, that is the anticipation, and the mccarthy allies says they have been expecting it to fall short of 218 on the first ballot, but how it ends is anyone's guess, but they believe it can still happen despite the stiff loss, and he has to cut the defections down, a win them back of how to get